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Politicians say they are going to bring back the steel industry in Canton County, Ohio; Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were both as a charity dinner; ISIS has now taken credit for attacking security forces in new areas of Iraq; Aired 10:30-11:00a ET

Aired October 21, 2016 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


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[10:32:45] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN HOST: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello live in the battleground state of Ohio. Thank you so much for joining me.

I spent most of my childhood in Stark County, Ohio, where steel was king. It's a place that actually represents the old Ohio. Where I am now, Franklin County, very much represents the new Ohio.

Speaking about Stark County, whenever I hear politicians say how they are going to bring back the steel industry, back to my home county, I'm skeptical because here's the dirty little secret for you. Most people think steel isn't coming back, at least not the way it was.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Canton, Ohio, part of America's rust belt. It's where I grew up. Back then it was a place where middle class dreams came true. Steel was king and if you listen to the politicians, king steel can make America great again.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will put new American steel into the spine of this country. I will fight for every neglected part of this nation.

COSTELLO: Back in the good old days my dad worked here at republic steel. He worked inside that factory for 30 years. Back then, 4,000 people worked at republic steel. Today, just about 200 work behind those factory walls. So when politicians say they are going to revive the steel industry in Ohio, hey, it's been a dying dinosaur for 40 years. I'm skeptical.

BRYAN RICE, VICE PRESIDENT, USW LOCAL 1200: I just don't believe either candidate has what it takes to bring the jobs back here.

COSTELLO: What would it take?

RICE: A working man put in that position. Career politicians have failed us my whole life. Democrats and Republicans.

COSTELLO: Well, Donald Trump's not a politician.

RICE: He's a good businessman.

COSTELLO: You know, some people refer to him as a blue collar billionaire. Do you know what that means?

RICE: No. Evidently he has got a nice blue shirt on made in China.

COSTELLO: Bryan Rice is a union man just like my dad Tony was back in the '60s. He, like my father, makes high grade steel parts in this plant. Both supported their families on a working man's wage. But my dad had it better. The union was strong then. Wages were better. NAFTA and TPP were not on the table. And young men were eager to work in the mill. Today, not so much.

[10:35:11] RICE: It's an extremely dangerous, hot, dirty, you know, place to work. It's not for everybody. My brothers and sisters right now are risking their life next to that furnace. You have a catastrophic failure and you will die.

COSTELLO: Rice is still grateful for the work, though. Ohio has lost more than 307,000 manufacturing jobs since 1994. While Ohio's unemployment rate has been falling since 2009, Canton City leaders know an economy base on steel isn't coming back.

So they are betting on football. David Baker is a businessman from Newport Beach, California, who is now president of the pro football hall of fame.

How would you like to redefine Canton, Ohio?

DAVID BAKER, PRESIDENT, PRO-FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME: We can make it this place that stands for excellence. This place that is inspiration. If Walt Disney had the happiest place on earth, you know, this place here could be the most inspirational place on earth.

COSTELLO: Baker has already set his $476 million project in motion. Construction is under way for a sprawling 300 plus acre football village, complete with virtual reality rides, ten NFL quality fields, a referee training facility, hotels, restaurants and retail outlets. In short, a Disneyland of football.

The quarterback after running from the field will say I'm going to Disneyland of football, Canton, Ohio.

BAKER: He is going to say I'm going to hall of fame village. That's where every coach, every official, every kid and every parent will want their kids to go.

COSTELLO: But Rice doesn't believe football is the answer to Canton's lost jobs either.

BAKER: I just don't see it. Who wants to come take a vacation here in Canton, Ohio when it's snowing? I'm going to the beach.

COSTELLO: So what kind of industry would revitalize Ohio?

BAKER: I don't know. I don't know what it's going to take. I just don't see a quick fix.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Well, I'm biased because I grew up in the state of Ohio in Stark County and in Carroll County. And I agree with Bryan. There is no fix for my state. But I think that a lot of people don't think the steel industry, at least the steel industry of old, is the answer either.

And here's why I think that. When my dad retired many, many years ago, the company he worked for, it went bankrupt. It took half of his pension. Growing up my dad never took me to that plant, at Republic Steel. He had no interest in steel being part of my future. His dream for me was to go to college. His dream for me was not to work in a factory. And that's the dream of many parents even in Stark County, Ohio today.

What will it take to change the state of Ohio's economy? What it's taken in Franklin County, where the economy is booming, here in Columbus, right. It's the new industry and it focuses on education and it focuses on skilled labor.

Much more from Columbus, Ohio when we come back.

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[10:42:34] COSTELLO: ISIS has now taken credit for attacking security forces in new areas of Iraq. The terrorist group is trying to fend off Iraqi and Kurdish forces as they made gains in the offensive to recapture Mosul. Now new fronts are opening up as ISIS fighters attack security forces in Kirkuk and government buildings in a nearby smaller town.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is live on the front lines near Mosul. Hi, nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it is remarkable actually the length of this attack inside of Kirkuk. Not in itself a massive strategic significance but this is a common ISIS tactic, to throw the fight at their adversary in an unexpected location. Kirkuk very far from Mosul. It is self oil-rich, being Peshmerga control for some time. My picture showing still now the violence continuing. Security headquarters, the target of these 30 militants, seven of whom killed so far. A number of Peshmerga fighters killed, too.

This coming as it becomes increasingly clear that ISIS are not giving up the fight even in the most farther-flung settlements in the territory they hold. We saw ourselves yesterday how drones were being used to spot on where the Peshmerga were. The Peshmerga heavily shot during the flyover us. And so drones used to drop explosives near our positions, too if we move with Peshmerga fighters.

A very tenacious resistance they are putting up. And just a smaller towns not being given up at all without some kind of fight, forcing the Peshmerga and American forces in their midst to move around. Populations and there is a time as we saw ourselves.

One American casualty reported in the last 24 hours. Little information as is customary at the early stages, but announcing an American death in northern Iraq from an IED, a mine to you and me. Possibly involved in assault against Mosul. We have seen ourselves on two key prongs into ISIS territory, how Special Forces in armored vehicles are often in the first wave of Peshmerga armor that goes against ISIS. They are very much at the front, not involved in the assault but the White House admits certainly in harm's way - Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Paton Walsh reporting live near the battle lines in Mosul, Iraq. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, in a word this election has been so ugly. But is it about to turn off voters from heading to the ballot box? We will talk about that next.

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[10:48:48] COSTELLO: And welcome back to Columbus, Ohio. I'm in German village, a very cute village right actually a neighborhood outside of downtown Columbus. I'm in (INAUDIBLE) where a very popular breakfast place. In fact, it has been amazingly popular all morning.

I want to take you back to last night, back to New York City. There was a dinner. It was a charity dinner. It was to raise money for needy children in New York. It was to benefit catholic charities. Both candidates were there, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. And guess what? The two candidates did indeed shake hands. And at one point they actually sat down and talked to one another just as people. And then of course, they stood up and told jokes about each other and sometimes not very nice jokes and it went back to the nasty campaign that has been for the past what, two years now because yes, it seems like it's gone on forever.

So with that, I want to introduce you to my next two guests. Sandy Theis is the executive director for Progress Ohio. And you are a Hillary Clinton supporter?

SANDY THEIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PROGRESS I'm a Clinton supporter.

COSTELLO: OK. And Sara Marie Brenner, you are a Trump supporter?

SARA MARIE BRENNER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yes.

COSTELLO: So Clinton supporter.

THEIS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Trump supporter.

BRENNER: Yes.

COSTELLO: And look, you are sitting together.

THEIS: We are. In a swing state like Ohio you have to sometimes sit with the other side. It's OK.

[10:50:07] COSTELLO: Could you shake hands just for my benefit?

BRENNER: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: OK. You go that out of the way. My God. That might be too much for me to bear in this election season.

So Sarah, your candidate is not doing so well in the polls although we is tight here in the state of Ohio. So your thoughts on the state of the race as far as Mr. Trump goes at this moment?

BRENNER: Sure. Well, actually I think I would disagree with that premise. The last poll that came out, the one that really predicted the 2012, 2008 and 2004 races has Trump up nationally now by one. And there are some polls out now where he is up by four to six in the state of Ohio. So, you know, I think a lot of the numbers are turning around. Yes, they have been up and down. But I think the closer we get the more people are going to realize it's about policy.

COSTELLO: I talked to a couple not too long ago and the husband said that he was really open to voting for Trump but once Trump came out and said that, you know, it might be a rigged election, that did it for him and he is now going to vote for Hillary Clinton.

BRENNER: Well, I think when we look back in John Kerry, Al Gore, going back, we have had both Republicans and Democrats who said there's fraud, there's issues, it's rigged, whatever. It's verbiage both sides use. And I think the media is kind of forgetting that when we go through the whole reporting process of it.

COSTELLO: But it appears to be hurting Donald Trump.

BRENNER: Well, if it's hurting Donald Trump it's because the way that it's being presented. People forget very quickly. And when the media makes it sound like a big deal like he is saying what he is, they don't bring in the facts. Al Gore said the thing to John Kerry said the same thing. So it has been said before.

COSTELLO: So Sandy, you probably heard all of this. So in your estimation, what goes through your mind when Donald Trump says he may not, you know, be so into the results of the election?

THEIS: I think it was really a tragedy for him when he said that at the same time George Bush's letter to Bill Clinton came out that showed how gracious he was with the transfer of power. That's one of the fundamental tenets of democracy. You don't say I'm not going to accept the will of the people. And the more people see and hear from Donald Trump, the more he frightens people.

COSTELLO: I want to talk about the female vote. Donald Trump isn't doing well with females generally speaking across the country. You are both women, obviously, right. So I just wanted to say what attracts you to Donald Trump. And then I'm going to ask you what attracts you to Hillary Clinton and away from Donald Trump. So you first. BRENNER: Sure. For me as a small business owner, that's a big piece

of it for me, are the policies. I'm also pro-life and we learned at the last debate Hillary is not up until the last second, she is pro- choice. So I mean, from both a values standpoint and through a fundamental tax policy standpoint. I also think Hillary as had the opportunity to fix foreign policy. She was secretary of state. She had the chance to fix it and she failed. And so it's time to give somebody else a chance.

COSTELLO: So all of this stuff that Donald Trump has said on tape about women, does it bother you?

BRENNER: I think at least for me, and I know this is something that we don't always do in politics, but at least for me, I try to take the emotion out of it and look at the fact. And when you compare policies to policies, there's just no question if you are pro-life, if you want good tax policy, if you want a good shot at foreign policy, if you own a small business, Donald Trump has the right policies.

COSTELLO: OK. So as you are hearing, what goes through your mind?

THEIS: I think Hillary is the most qualified person in my lifetime. I have seen run for president. And Donald Trump is the most frightening and the way he talks about women and has talked about women is entire professional life is frightening. He doesn't have any respect for them. He thinks the greatest compliment he can give is I would want to date you. The guy is a nasty person. I'm going to buy one of those nasty woman shirts. Hillary's a job creator. There's all these new mugs and t-shirts and other things with the nasty woman -

(CROSSTALK)

THEIS: And I just think Trump is - he doesn't have the stable temperament that you need to have access on the nuclear launch codes. He gets agitated by a tweet. He can't keep his composure during the debate. And everyone in the debates, we saw that. And I think the more people see them particularly together, the more frightening he becomes and the more they realize that she is definitely the better of the two.

COSTELLO: OK. So if Hillary Clinton does win the election, will you accept the results?

BRENNER: Well, I mean, I don't think it's a question of will you accept the results. I mean, that's what this country is having an election. It is having election. Otherwise none of us would be fighting for what we're fighting for. I don't think that's even a question.

COSTELLO: Well, it is in Mr. Trump's mind.

BRENNER: No. What's the question in his mind is are there problems with fraud, are there issues, are there things that come to the surface and if there are, he wants to reserve the right to contest those problems. I would feel the exact same way. And the other side has --

[10:55:03] COSTELLO: That's what I'm asking you. If it's a close election and Hillary Clinton is the winner, will you feel confident that there has been no fraud and that Hillary Clinton has won?

BRENNER: Well, I think at the end of the day whoever wins is the person who wins. Right? And I mean, there is a poll out this morning that 72 percent of the American people now do think there is voter fraud. So it certainly is something, I wish both sides would address it. I think the Democrats would address it. It wouldn't be an issue but they choose to say there isn't any.

COSTELLO: OK. So you guys are still friends even after this interview I'm glad. I wish I could talk to you more but I'm out of time. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today. I do appreciate it.

That does it for me. Thank you for being with me. I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND BOLDUAN" after a break.

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